Variable Style Names Custom Parameter

Hey hey! There is a “Variable Style Names” Custom Parameter in Glyphs 3. I tested it, but could not find any difference generated variable font. What is the Custom Parameter for?

It is for those cases where the style name of the variable font is different from the static font.

This parameter is indeed not used. I’ll have a look.

I think is broken. can be?

This is exactly what I need! :upside_down_face:

It would be awesome if you could make it work as intended. Would be a great help.

+1 to this request. in case it is helpful (or in case I am thinking about this the wrong way and someone would like to point it out :slight_smile: ) my primary use case is in a multiaxis font where I have different family names (using e.g. the Localized family names, Style map style names etc parameters) for each optical size, to prevent one gigantic menu for the user that includes every style in one drop-down. a variable font of course doesnt care about those names, so if I have an ExtraLight or whatever at a variety of sizes, the named instances arent differentiated for the user of a VF.

I do utilize the Optical size custom parameter for this with the crazy semicolon-delimited values as well, but dont have a lot of confidence in various toolmakers always providing a UI for or respecting those values.

Hey there ! We’re having the same issue, we’re building a new website making use of variable fonts as much as possible and not being able to use this parameter makes it harder for us to show the different style/weight names of some of our variable fonts

in case anyone finds this helpful, you can script this as a work-around. you can paste this in the macro panel, it won’t modify the font, just the one it exports.

export_path = "~/Desktop/"
font_copy = Glyphs.font.copy()
for instance in font_copy.instances:
    if instance.variableStyleName:
        instance.name = instance.variableStyleName	
font_copy.export(FontPath = export_path, Format=VARIABLE)
1 Like

I fixed it.

2 Likes

:tada: Thanks a lot @GeorgSeifert

Hi @GeorgSeifert ! The change log tells me it’s fixed, but now I can’t find the variableStyleName Custom Parameter anywhere.

That parameter is not needed any more. Add a “Variable Font Settings” in Font Info > Exports. There you can set the style name.